Bath-time
by SylviaBronte
Summary: When Pepper comes home, she's expecting a screaming baby and Tony tearing his hair out over not being able to calm the kid down. Instead, she is greeted by a very unconventional bath-time. Written for Day 4 of Pepperony Week.


It was late when Pepper arrived home from an unexpected trip to the pharmacist. After suffering from a splitting headache all day (a screaming baby wasn't exactly helping matters), she had finally given in and gone out, leaving Tony alone with a very unhappy baby. It wasn't that she'd given up caring, she just felt like she needed a quick break, as well as going to get some paracetamol, or something. Normally, the medicine cabinet was full, but they'd both been so busy with being parents that they'd completely forgotten about it. Well, Pepper had been busy being a parent. Tony was inevitably getting sucked into work again - she didn't hold it against him, seeing as she knew how much he hated it, and wanted to spend more time with their daughter.

When she entered the Malibu mansion, she found that all of the lights were turned on, but there wasn't a sound to be heard. She kicked off her flats, and cautiously padded into the lounge. "Tony?" she called out.

"Shh, you'll wake her up. In the bathroom." came a quiet voice.

Pepper followed the sound of her husband's voice, growing curiouser by the second. She slowly pushed the door open, and gasped a little, before her face melted into a fond smile.

Lying in the bath, fully clothed, was Tony. In his arms was the (unclothed) baby. To Pepper's delight and relief, she seemed to be asleep, showing no signs of waking up any time soon. Her husband watched her with a proud smile as he carefully cradled their daughter to his chest, pressing a light kiss to her damp tufts of brown hair.

"After you left, she just wouldn't settle. I remember reading somewhere that water can sometimes be calming for babies, so... here we are." Tony gestured to himself and the baby. "I'm wearing my clothes, because... well, I wasn't sure where to put her while I unchanged. I didn't wanna put her down, or anything." he explained.

Pepper nodded, walking over and crouching down beside the bath, running her fingers through Tony's hair. "Good job, Daddy." she murmured, still wearing a loving smile on her tired face. "I guess she likes the water, which is a good thing. You know, I'm surprised that the arc reactor doesn't disturb her, what with the bright light."

"I know, same here. I'm gonna make a cover of some kind pretty soon, the next time I have a spare moment. I think that I'll-"

Tony was cut off abruptly when she began to stir in his arms. They exchanged a worried glance, before their eyes fell back on the baby again.

"Uh oh... here we go again." Pepper whispered.

However, to their surprise, she opened her large blue eyes and stayed silent, staring up at her mother and father, looking around curiously. Her parents watched with baited breath, waiting for her to start crying at any second. However, she didn't make a sound. Relieved, Pepper smiled sweetly, and ran her index finger over the soft skin of her daughter's cheek.

"Hello, Eliza." she murmured lovingly. Eliza grabbed her mother's finger, staring up into matching blue orbs, with a look of slight confusion on her face.

"Do you like this?" Tony said in a soft tone, scooping up small amounts of water and covering her shoulders and arms. The small child raised her arms, and her mouth curled into an undeniable smile, splashing both Tony and Pepper.

"Oh my God, is she smiling?" Pepper said, her eyes lighting up.

"I think she is, yeah."

"She's smiling. She's never done that before!" she exclaimed excitedly, not even caring that Eliza was starting to soak her sweater. "She seems happy now, but she'll probably be hungry as soon as she gets out. I'll go fix her up a bottle."

"Yeah, I've been in here with her for ages." Tony agreed. "Okay, Liza. Time to get out." He carefully stepped out of the bath, just as Pepper left the room to fix her a bottle. Immediately, her face scrunched up as if she was going to cry. "No, no, it's okay." he soothed.

Pepper heard her husband's comforting voice, pausing outside the door to hear what he was going to say.

"I know, I know, you wanna go back in the water. Well, don't worry, you can go back in again tomorrow. It's okay, because you're gonna get some milk now, and we all know how greedy you are, even for a baby. Mommy's making you a bottle. You know..." He paused for a second, before continuing. "I'm supposed to be the superhero, but I don't think I am. Do you know who the real hero is? Mommy's the superhero in this family, because she gave me you."

The redhead felt herself well up at Tony's words, smiling happily. She decided that going into the kitchen was probably a good idea, seeing as she didn't want to be caught by him. At first, Pepper'd secretly had her doubts about how well Tony would slip into the father role, what with his love of scotch, bad language, tenancies to disappear into his workshop for hours on end and his habit of blasting death metal at ear-damaging volumes. However, he was a natural parent, and Pepper couldn't have loved him more for it.

And, as she faintly heard Tony bantering with Eliza over what clothes she was going to wear, she fell in love with him all over again.


End file.
